Creditor Harassment & Rights in New Jersey

Falling behind on bills can be stressful enough without having creditors harassing you at your house, place of employment and mailbox. Creditors have a legitimate right to attempt to recover their money, however, the New Jersey Fair Debt Collection Act protects debtors from being unreasonably and illegally harassed. The New Jersey Act requires creditors to comply with statutes described in the act or face fines, incarceration or both.

Time and Place

Debtors have the right not to be contacted about a debt outside of the hours of 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. This time frame is to be observed within the debtor's time zone. For example, a collection agency on the West Coast, attempting to collect a debt from a New Jersey customer, cannot call before 6 a.m. PST and 7 p.m. PST to comply with the time zone of New Jersey.

Phone Calls

Creditors cannot call a debtor's place of employment more than once per month unless given express written permission by the debtor to do so. Before calling a New Jersey resident's workplace for the purpose of debt collection, the creditor or collection agency must make reasonable attempts to contact the debtor at his residence.

If the debtor informs a creditor that he does not wish to be contacted at work or the creditor becomes aware that the employer does not allow personal phone calls to employees, all calls to the debtor's place of business must immediately cease.

In calling the debtor's place of employment, the creditor is prohibited by the act from disclosing the purpose of the call to anyone but the debtor.

Mail

Letters requesting payment may be sent to the debtor's personal mailing address but when it comes to contact with the debtor through work, only one letter is allowed to be sent to the debtor. The envelope containing written communication to the debtor cannot display any markings or logos that denote it is from a debt collection agency. Nor can anything on the outside of the envelope denote that it is being sent as an attempt to collect a debt.

Cease and Desist

Debtors in New Jersey have the right to tell debt collectors to cease and desist all communications with the debtor. This applies to contact at work or home. Once told to stop communications, the debt collector must immediately stop, other than to send one letter detailing that communication will cease. The creditor still has the option of pursuing collections through a civil court action, which can include seeking a judgment and wage garnishment.

Attorneys

Once a debtor tells the creditor he is represented by an attorney, the creditor or debt collector must go through the debtor's attorney for all collection attempts.